A new week, a new review! The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime” is…an absolute waste of time. It hurts to talk like this about a show we love, but this is an honest review, so we’ll tell the truth even if it hurts. Chenford and the last few minutes of the episode are the only things worth your time. We said what we said. Time for a review!
Here we go!
I want to clarify that I love true crime. I’m the type of person who tunes into true crime just for fun so yeah, I’m a true crime fan. But when I want to see true crime I don’t tune in to The Rookie. When I tune in to this show, I’m looking for something else. Do you know why? Because The Rookie is not true crime and should stop pretending to be.
The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime” is essentially the same as the episode titled “True Crime” so it’s no surprise we didn’t like it. The only difference between both episodes is that The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime” tells us a story about a character that we actually care about. So can we call that an improvement? We assume so. Other than that, it’s the same, so we have two true crime episodes in two seasons of The Rookie. And that’s a HUGE mistake.
As we mentioned at the beginning of the review, The Rookie must stop pretending to be something that it is not. When we tune in to this series we don’t expect to see true crime and we don’t want to see true crime so any episode about it is superfluous, but if the show decides to do two true crime episodes in the two seasons…it’s pretty frustrating and disconcerting, to be honest.
So yeah, The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime” is a massive waste of time. Let us clarify this. Did Aaron deserve to have the spotlight? Yes. Did Patrick and Aaron deserve to get justice? Absolutely. Is the story the right way to do it? NO. Absolutely not.
The best – and the only worthwhile – of The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime” is Chenford interview because they are so cute for this world, the parody and criticism of QAnon’s bullshit (that was a good call, The Rookie), and the last minutes of the episode. Nothing more.
Speaking about the last few minutes of The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime,” we understand that Aaron’s mom didn’t want to tell the world the truth because she’s right that it would have added more fire but we don’t understand why she didn’t say it to Aaron. He deserved to know.
She tries to convince herself that she hid it from her son for the sake of Aaron but that’s a lie, she did it for herself. She was afraid that Aaron would look down on her knowing why she had come to Paris that day. We think Aaron will forgive her because, as she says, they’re family and there is nothing that their love for each other cannot overcome, but he will need time.
And that hug between Aaron and Patrick’s dad is the best! Patrick’s father realizes how unfair he was to Aaron but Aaron understands. Patrick’s father needed someone to blame and an escape route to his pain…and that was the only way he found. The fact that he now knows the truth, that the real murderer of his son was captured…is the only thing that matters to Aaron.
We understand the intention of The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime.” We really do. It’s a criticism of the injustices of the penal and judicial system, as well as a tribute/parody to true crime. And that’s good, the system, its inconsistencies, and its errors should be criticized but this is not the way to do it. It’s frustrating that The Rookie can criticize the system so brilliantly in some episodes and others episodes just…can’t find a right way to do it.
We wasted our time watching The Rookie 4×16 “Real Crime,” we advise you to fast-forward to the final minutes of the episode so you don’t.
The Rookie airs Sundays at 10/9 on ABC and will return with new episodes April 3.
